Air-heater.



I.. GILES.

AIR HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. I8| I'9I4. 191441194699 Pamed June 29, 191,5.

2 SHEETS-SHEET i.

Patented June 29, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

LLOYD GILES, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR '10 PACIFIC HEATER MANU- FACTURING CO., OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION 0F CALIFORNIA.

an erariale Parana non.

AIR-HEATER.

maa/ice.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patntdl Jun@ 29, 119115,;

Application led August 18, 1914. Serial No. 857,409.

To allwhom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, LLOYD GILEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, have invented a new and useful Air-Heater, of which the following is a specification. i

The invention relates to heaters, and more particularly to air heaters, in. which a supply of cold air is drawn into a heater, heated therein, and discharged into the space to be heated.

rlhe principal object of the invention 1s t0 provide a heater which will be small and compact, and which may 'be installed in partially inclosed rooms or porches, such as are usually found in Warm climates. have been, and are being erected throughout the United States, especially in the por tions thereof having a warm climate, large numbers of small one story. dwellings known as bungalows. When built in such locations, and especially in Califorma and Arizona, bungalows are small, low in cost,

and inexpensive and efficient heating means for such bungalows are ingreat demand. In these climates for the greater portion of the year heat isrequired only at certain times of the day, and gas forms a convenlent and inexpensive means for heating them if it is properly applied.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gas heater which shall be low in cost, and particularly adapted for use in bungalows, being installed on the screen porch thereof, without the necessity for extensive cellar excavations such as are neces sary where many of the common forms of heaters are used.

The particular form of my invention illustrated herewith is also applicable to apartment house heating in similar latitudes, one of these heaters being" conven iently located in each suite of apartments,

and being wholly under the control of the4 tenant thereof.

A further object of my invention is to provide a. heater which shall be economical to operate, and which will at the same time thoroughly ventilate the space to be heated. By installing the ordinary type of closed stove in the room to be heated, a very eficient heating of the air is accomplished, but there is ordinarily `no ventilation pro'- duced by such a stove. The-air in the room There eicient from a ventilation standpoint, fulj air being taken from the room andsent up the chimney, through which most of theh'ot gases also escapefwithout doing any con-l siderable amount of useful work. By using my invention heating efficiencies equal to or in excess of those obtained by the use of stovesareiobtau-ied, and at the same time a thorough ventilation is provided, large supplies of fresh air being constantly forced into' the space tobe heated. To produce this high heating eiiciency it is necessary to p'rovide a large heating area, and it is Inecessary to' evenly distribute the heating gases and the air t0 be heated over such'areas. -lnfthe production of such a heater it is further necessary to confine the hot gases and products of combustion so that no mixture of the products of combustion with the air to be.

heated will takeplace, and it is further necessary that .the means employed for the separationk be constructed so as not to be affected by expansion or contraction, or p the corroding influence of the gases.

Y All these objects and advantages are accomplished in my invention as will be evident from the following specification and drawings.

Referring to the drawings which are for 4 is a section on the plane :v4-m4 of Fig. 3

looking in the direction'of the arrows. Fig. 5 is a section on the plane :v5-#m5 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 6 is a section on the plane aiem6 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the form of my invention illustratedl in the drawings an outer casing 1 surrounds a cell structure 2 which-is fed with hot gas 'from a combustion chamber 3 in which is located aiburner 4. A fan 5. driven by a moto-r 6 draws the outside air in through a grating inthe top of the casing 1, and a -iue 8 .draws o fi the products of combustion "fromlthe cell structure 2. A hot air pipe 9 'passes tof registers located in the oor,\walls,

I or at convenient n 11. The cell structure 2 is formed of a noncorrosive metal preferably ingot iron welded together into the form'shown. It conslsts ofthin walls forming a series of passages 12 providing an open communication between the chambers 1(l and 11. Walls between the passages 12 form primary ascending passages 13, descending passages 14, and secondary ascending passages 15.l

The combustion chamber 3 is located inside the outer shell 16 of the cell structure 2, dead air spaces 17 and 18 being formed by a diaphragm 19 between the shell 16 and the casing 1 for the purpose of heat insulating the cell 2. Gas chambers 20 and 21 are provided in the shell 16 at either side of the combustion chamber 3, the gas chambers 20 and 21 having openings to the outer air closed by spring actuated explosion doors 22 and 23.

The gas burner 4 is placed in the combustion chamber 3 and is supplied with gas from a gas pipe 25, suitable controlling .valves and air mixing devices being supplied .27, the interior of which is in open communication with the hot air pipe 9. One

yside of this casing 27 has an opening 28 providing an open communication between the center of the fan 5 and the chamber 11. The fan 5 consists of a shaft 29 to which is rigidly secured a runner 30 havinga plurality of Hat'radial blades 31. The shaft 29 turns freely in bearings 32 between which is a reservoir 33 in which oil is placed and .from which the oil is fed to the shaft-29 by means of oil rings, or any other convenient means. The motor 6 is preferably connected to the shaft 29 through pulleys 34 and 35 and a belt 36.

The method of operation of the invention is as follows: Gas is admitted to the chamber 3 through the pilot tube 26 and ignited at the inner end of said tube. The motor 6 is started and the fan 5 is rotated at a high rate of speed. The centrifugal effect of the blades 31 throws the air outwardly into the casing 27 drawing it inwardly through the opening 28 from the chamber 11. The air taken from the chamber 11 is replaced by 'air drawn through the grating 7, the chamber 10, and the passages 12. Gas being admitted to the burner 2, vis ignited by the pilot flame, and the hot gases pass upwardly l l, 1,144,4@19v through the passages 14 intol the chambers 20 and 21, from thence passing upwardly`- through the vpassages 15 tothe flue 8. In

vtheir passage through the cell structure 2,

these hot gases heat the walls of the passages 12 through which the fresh air passes fromy the chamber 10 to the chamber 11.

If an ezplosion takes place in the champroducts of combustion to leak out'of the cell.

The cell structure 2 is inclined in the outer shell 1, the chamber 10 being smallest at the bottom, and the chamber 11 being smallest at the top. The object of this variation in cross section is to produce a uniform movement of the air to be heated through the chambers` 10 and 11, and the passages 12.

The cell structure 2 consists more particularly of-a front wall 55,'the lower end 56 of lwhich extends forwardly to the front wall 57 of the outer casing 1 of the heater, and a rear wall 58 which extends downwardly to the bottom wall 59 thereof and connects at its upper end with the top wall 60 thereof. Arranged diagonallyV and extending through the front wall 55 and rear wall 58 are a series of division walls 61 bent to form the diagonally disposed air passage 12 heretofore referred to, two of said walls 61 being eX- tended downwardlypas indicated at 62 and connected at the bottom as indicated at 63.to formthe side and bottom walls of the combustion chamber 3. As heretofore referred to the air. passages are arranged in vertical rows and the walls 61 thereof are connected as indicated at 50, thereby forming the passages 1 3, 14, and 15, which together form tortuous conduits from the combustion chamber 38 to the iue. The gas chambers 2O and 21 are formedlby the walls 61 of the lowermost air passages 12, the extension 62 of said walls, the bottom wall 59, and side walls of the shell 16, said gas chambers communicating with the tortuous conduits referred to.

The invention illustrated in the drawings and described in4 the previous specification has been developed as an improvement on the structure shown in Letters Patent No. 1,076,209, issued October 26, 1913, to Edward C. Kent, George A. Lyster, and myself. The principal elements of novelty in openings between these chambers results inl a heater in which there is a very uniform movement of the air to be heated, and a very perfect distribution of this air over the heating surfaces. Third, the entirely inclosed form of combustion chamber placed in the center of the shellwith a gas chamber on either side thereof, and in the use of explosion doors for relieving excess pressures from these gas chambers.

l claim as my invention:

l. An air heater comprising an outer casing having a flue extending through the top thereof and an air inlet opening, a combustion chamber in said casing, a cell structure in said casing arranged to form an air inlet chamber at the front thereof and an air outlet chamber at the rear thereof both within said casing, a series of walls extending across said cell structure and forming a series of substantially horizontally disposed air passages connecting said air inlet passage and said air outlet passage, the walls ofu said air passages being connected to form tortuous conduits within the cell structure from the combustion chamber to said flue and consisting of a series of ascending and descending passages for the heated gases, and means for withdrawing the air from the air outlet chamber.

2. An air heater comprising an outer casing having a iue atthe top thereof and an air inlet opening, a combustion chamber 1n said casing, a cell structure in said casing arranged to form a downwardly converging .air inlet chamber between the front wall thereof and the front -wall of said casing and a downwardly diverging air outlet chamber between the rear wall thereof and ranged to form an air inlet chamber at the front thereof and an air outlet chamber at the rear thereof, said cell structurehaving a series of diagonally disposed passages therethrough connecting the air inlet chamber with the air outlet chamber and having a series of tortuous ascending and descending passages therethrough forming conduits for the heated gases from said combustion chamber to said flue, and means for withdrawing-air from said outlet chamber.-

4. An air heater comprising an outer casing 4having a flue extending through the top thereof and an air inlet opening in the top thereof, a shell mounted in said outer casing having a combustion chamber in the lower portion thereof,.the front wall of said shell being arranged at an angle with the front wall of said casing to form a downwardly converging air inlet chamber therebetween, the rear wall of said shell being ar` ranged at an angle to the rear wall of said outer casing to form a downwardly converging air outlet chamber. therebetween, a series of division walls extending through said shell from the front to the rear thereof forming a series of air passages therethrough in open communication with the air inlet and air outlet chambers, said divisioi. walls being joined vertically between said air passages thereby forming a series of ascending and descending passages forming continuous conduits from said combustion chamber to said flue, and means for withldrawing the 4air from said air outlet cham- 5. An air heater comprising an outer casing having an air opening at the top thereof, a shell mounted in said casing having a combustion chamber in the lower portion thereof and a flue at the top thereof extending through the top of said casing, said shell having front and rear walls spaced apart respectively from the front and rear walls of said casing to form an air inlet chamber in the front portion and an air outlet chamber in the rear portion of said casing, a series of division walls extending through said shell from the front to the rear thereof and forming a series of vertical rows of communicating passages between said air inlet and air outlet chambers, said division walls being connected vertically between said air passages and thereby forming vertically ascendin and descending passages therebetween, said passages being connected to form tortuous conduits from said combustion chamber to said flue, and means for withdrawing airfrom said air outlet chamber.

6. An air heater comprising an outer casing having` an air inlet opening at the top thereof, a shell mounted in said casingand having a flue extendin through said casing, said shell having ront and rear walls spaced apart respectively from the front and rear walls of said casing and arranged at an angle thereto to form a downwardly converging air inlet chamber in theI front portion of said casing and a downwardly diverging air outlet chamber in the rear portion of said casing, a series of division walls extending through said shell from the front to the rear thereof and forming a series of vertical rows of air passages connecting said air inlet chamber and said air outlet chamber, said division walls being connected vertically between said air passages, extensions on two of` said division walls connected at the bottom and thereby forming a combustion chamber in said shell and a gas chamber on the outer side of each ertension within said shell, means for'relieving the pressure in each gas chamber,

said division walls forming tortuous `conduits between said combustion chamber and said flue in open communication with the respective gas chambers, and consisting of a series of ascending and descending passages,

'and means for lwithdrawing air from said air outlet chamber.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto" `set f' LLOYD Grans.

In presence of- FRED A. MANSFIELD, FERD. W. HARRIS. 

